page_title: VS-22
section_title: Second VS-22, 1960-2009
hierarchical_section_title: VS-22 / History / Second VS-22, 1960-2009
caption_attribution_description: A U.S. Navy Grumman S-2E Tracker of Anti-Submarine Squadron 32 (VS-32) "Checkmates" approaching the aircraft carrier USS Essex (CVS-9) in 1967. VS-32 was assigned to Carrier Anti-Submarine Air Group 54 (CVSG-54) aboard the Essex for a deployment to the Mediterranean Sea from June to August 1967.
context_page_description: Sea Control Squadron 22 Checkmates was a carrier-based United States Navy squadron based out of Naval Air Station Jacksonville in Florida. The squadron flew the Lockheed S-3B Viking and their mission was mining, undersea and surface warfare, electronic reconnaissance and analysis, over the horizon targeting, and aerial refueling. The squadron was last attached to Carrier Air Wing Seventeen and was the last squadron flying the Viking. VS-22 was disestablished in a ceremony at NAS Jacksonville on January 29, 2009, and officially on March 31, 2009.
context_section_description: A new anti-submarine squadron VS-22 was established at NAS Quonset Point, Rhode Island (USA), on 18 May 1960.  From 1960 to 1976, the Checkmates flew the Grumman S-2 Tracker, better known as "Stoof" from its pre-1962 designation "S2F".
  VS-22 was assigned to Carrier Anti-Submarine Air Group 54 (CVSG-54) at NAS Quonset Point and operated from Essex-class anti-submarine carriers, mostly in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea: 
  USS Lake Champlain, June 1960 -  May 1965;
  USS Essex, June 1967 - August 1967;
  USS Wasp, March 1969 - November 1971;
  USS Intrepid, March 1972 (as part of CVSG-56).
  Besides the typical submarine hunting role for which the aircraft was designed, the Checkmates held a significant role in the United States space program. Naval aviator Alan B. Shepard's Freedom 7 spacecraft, the United States' first manned spacecraft, was tracked and located by VS-22 on 5 May 1961. In August 1965, while embarked on USS Lake Champlain, VS-22 recovered Gemini 5 astronauts Gordon Cooper and Pete Conrad. Finally, VS-22 was engaged in the recovery of Apollo 7 astronauts while deployed aboard USS Essex.
caption: A VS-22 S-2E approaching USS Essex in 1967
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